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Column: Take the debt discussion to the public

Dave Walker
Published 7:00 p.m. ET Jan. 9, 2013

An educated public will get behind fiscal reform.

The fact that we did go over the cliff, and then negotiated a quick fix that failed to achieve meaningful deficit reduction, was a clear failure of leadership on both sides of the aisle and ends of Pennsylvania Avenue.(Photo: Jacquelyn Martin, AP)

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It is essential that our elected officials put our fiscal house in order.

A critical aspect of this leadership must be a major effort to educate and engage the American public.

The negotiations to avoid the fiscal cliff represented another embarrassment for the United States. The Congress and the president created the fiscal cliff as a pressure point to force serious action on our structural deficits and growing national debt. The fact that we did go over the cliff, and then negotiated a quick fix that failed to achieve meaningful deficit reduction, was a clear failure of leadership.

Now, in 2013, our elected officials will be put to the test again. It is essential that they make meaningful progress this year toward putting our fiscal house in order. That will ultimately require a grand bargain that includes meaningful budget controls, comprehensive tax and social insurance reforms and responsible defense and other spending reductions. It won't be politically easy, and without leadership from the top, it will be impossible.

A critical aspect of this leadership must be a major effort to educate and engage the American public on the true state of our nation's finances and the types of reforms that will be necessary to ensure fiscal sustainability. And it needs to be a national effort that occurs outside of Washington, D.C., and is sanctioned by the White House and Congress, meaning that key elected officials, Democrat and Republican, agree to join together and participate.

This effort is so essential because it will take the public's understanding of what's at stake to rally popular support for difficult choices. Without the public's understanding, buy-in and pressure, our politicians will continue to kowtow to the most partisan wings of each party and the special interests.

Here's why I am completely convinced that a properly designed and effectively implemented public education and engagement campaign can make an enormous difference.

Public opinion polls offer a mixed picture: While there is broad support for addressing our debt burdens, that consensus breaks down when people are presented with specific reforms. Special interest groups and many press reports exacerbate this split by being too superficial and teeing up reforms as stark choices with clear winners and losers. What is missing from the poll questions is the all-important context. When people fully realize the condition we are in, and all that is at stake, they are far more willing to sacrifice for the greater good.

After hearing the full, unvarnished truth about our finances, they overwhelmingly agree that our politicians must come together and make tough choices. For example, during the heat of the 2012 Presidential campaign I participated in two demographically representative town hall forums in swing states. In those lively gatherings, Democrats, Republicans and independents agreed to do what our elected officials have found nearly impossible to do: set aside ideology and compromise for the good of the nation.

For example, 85% of those in the audience agreed that the nation's deficit and debt problems will require a combination of spending cuts and tax increases; and 77% or more of the participants supported a range of illustrative Social Security, Medicare/Medicaid, health care, defense, tax and other reforms. You don't see these types of responses in public opinion polls, and that's because poll takers don't provide the context that our house is burning down around us. I'm convinced that if they did, the results would be the same nationwide.

If the American people are told the truth about taxes, it can only help House Speaker John Boehner with the "Tea Party" element of his GOP caucus. If the public learns the truth about Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security, it can only help President Obama with the liberal Democrats on the Hill.

Thomas Jefferson said that the survival of our republic depends upon an informed citizenry. In this case, an informed citizenry can help secure a bright future for America by providing the cover our top elected officials need to strike a meaningful, bipartisan and long-lasting deal. Our leaders in Washington have ignored this critical outreach so far, and look where we are. But it's not too late to change course, energize the American people and rely on their good sense to lead the way to a better future for our country and our families.

David Walker is the chief executive officer of the Comeback America Initiative and a former U.S. comptroller general who headed the Government Accountability Office from 1998 to 2008.

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